Raise the Line

"We have an untapped army of 200,000 PAs that really could step up and drive some change in the healthcare system if we weren’t restricted,” says Dr. Jennifer Kolb, capturing her motivation for pushing to update practice regulations for physician associates that date back more than 50 years. 

As Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Clinical Affairs at the American Academy of Physician Associa...

Most adults who smoke want to quit, and about half try to do so in any given year, yet fewer than one in ten succeed. That persistent gap between intention and outcome is one of the central challenges in public health, and it's exactly the kind of problem that calls for new thinking about how to communicate with people to support behavior change. 

Dr. Amanda Graham has been a leading force in doing just that in her role as chi...

"I always remember feeling like I was part of the clean plate club," says Dr. Christle Guevarra, recalling a childhood spent quietly convinced that her weight was a matter of willpower. That belief followed her through a competitive powerlifting career and medical practice until she finally tried a GLP-1 medication herself and, as she describes it, the constant mental noise around food quieted down.

Now a board-certified family and...

Millions of Americans were saddened and outraged by the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in 2012 that took the lives of twenty children and six adults, and were left feeling helpless about the epidemic of gun violence in the U.S. that, sadly, continues to this day. But for our guest today, Shannon Watts, her feelings of devastation about the shooting turned to rage and fueled her unlikely rise to leading Moms Demand Action, which she...

In the United States, nearly 70% of people say they want to die at home, yet the majority still die in medical settings, often after receiving care that may not match their goals and values. Closing that gap between preference and reality is at the heart of the work being done by End Well, a nonprofit dedicated to transforming how we think about, plan for, and experience the end of life. "The gap isn't about people wanting the...

While Elsevier’s most recent Clinician of the Future Report shows increasing adoption of artificial intelligence tools among physicians and nurses, and optimism that they will improve quality of care in the future, a majority raised concerns about trust and reliability. To increase the level of trust, 60% said transparent citations of evidence-based and peer-reviewed research will be key.

How to provide that transparency...

It’s been one year since the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in an unprecedented move, dismissed all the members of its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), kicking off what would turn out to be a very concerning and busy year for infectious disease specialists.  We’re going to recap this turbulent period – which includes a resurgence of measles, an unusually rough flu season,...

"Do nothing for us without us." According to today’s guest Robyn Bussey, that operating principle is the basis for effective community health work. "You don't go into a community and dictate. You go and listen and trust and be a partner," she adds. As you’ll learn in this enlightening conversation, Bussey is following that approach in her current work as Just Health Director at the Partnership for Southern Equity, an At...

As concerns escalate about the deadly Ebola virus outbreak in Africa, we bring you the unique insights of Dr. Peter Piot, a renowned microbiologist who co-discovered the virus 50 years ago during the first recorded outbreak of the disease. His on-the-ground account of that crisis was provided to us in April before the current outbreak was declared, but it contains valuable historical perspective and shares lessons learned that he c...

The ongoing outbreak of hantavirus infections that originated with passengers on the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius in April has generated concerns across the globe. This very rare occurrence has led to a number of deaths, required quarantining of passengers and prompted emergency responses from public health authorities in multiple countries. 

On this episode of Raise the Line from Elsevier, we’re tapping the expertise of...

We mark National Mental Health Awareness Month on this episode by tapping the expertise of Dr. Steve Strakowski, an internationally recognized expert in bipolar disorder, who has spent decades studying the neurobiology and treatment of mood conditions while pushing just as hard on the structural barriers that keep effective treatments out of reach for more than half the people who need them.

In this conversation with Raise the Line...

"When the workforce does not align with the population, your system is misaligned by design." That candid observation comes from Tina Loarte-Rodríguez, DP, RN who has spent much of her two decade career in patient safety, risk management, and systems leadership as the only Latina in the room, which she sees as a signal of a systemic failure that demands structural solutions.

As we mark National Nurses Month, Dr. Loarte-Rodríguez jo...

The doctor is in....the box.  That’s one way to describe how patients are now encountering their physicians in what’s being described as the future of telehealth. Imagine that instead of a cancer patient in a rural area driving hours for an appointment to see their specialist at an academic health center, they can go to their local clinic and see a life-size, real-time, 3-D projection of them in a seven foot tall l...

“One of the reasons The Pitt has been so successful is because it's showing real expertise in a time when everybody thinks they're an expert,” says Dr. Mel Herbert, who brings decades of experience as an emergency medicine specialist to his work as a writer and consultant on the hit HBO Max show. Dr. Herbert, who was also a consultant on the groundbreaking TV drama ER, is one of seven physicians on The Pitt’s writ...

"Headache is just a teeny piece of the puzzle," says Dr. Regina Krel, an insight that’s at the heart of why migraine syndrome, one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, remains so persistently misunderstood. In this informative conversation with Raise the Line from Elsevier host Michael Carrese, Dr. Krel, the director of Headache Medicine at Hackensack University Medical Center, explains migraine as a storm that...

To mark the sixth anniversary of Raise the Line from Elsevier we're revisiting one of the most remarkable stories we've had the privilege of sharing over the last 575 episodes. To do that, we're delighted to welcome back Dr. David Fajgenbaum, a physician-scientist who repurposed an existing medication that saved his own life from Castleman disease, an ultra-rare condition that nearly killed him on five occasions. Because there was ...

How AI Could Strengthen the Doctor-Patient Relationship: Dr. Ashwin Vasan, Senior Fellow in Health Policy and Global Affairs at Yale School of Public Health and Affiliate Faculty at Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs

“Ultimately, AI needs to be a tool that doesn't break down trust or empathy or clinical judgment, but rather helps enhance those things.” That aspirational perspective from Dr. Ashwin Vasa...

Imagine you had a tutor who was with you every time you were studying and, because they knew your learning style, strengths and weaknesses, could hand you the right content at the moment you needed it to deepen your understanding of a topic.  That’s the pedagogically powerful experience students are having with AI-enhanced learning systems such as Osmosis AI, making possible what our guest, Elsevier’s Chief AI Offi...

“Everything I’m not, made me everything I am.” For Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck, that song lyric captures how growing up in a community marked by food insecurity and limited access to healthcare shaped a lifelong mission to improve health on a broad scale. Dr. LaMar, as he’s known, has pursued that mission in a variety of impactful roles, including CDC disease detective, director of the Illinois Department of Public ...